Sikkim: Melli-Nayabazar

Social Monitoring Report

Project Number: 37143-023 October 2018 Period: January 2018 - June 2018

IND: MFF - North Eastern State Roads Investment Program - Tranche 1 Subproject: Melli-Nayabazar (SK-01) and Nayabazar-Namchi (SK-02 ) Road Sections

Submitted by: Project Implementation Unit Roads & Bridges Department, Government of Sikkim

This report has been submitted to ADB by Project Implementation Unit Roads & Bridges Department, Government of Sikkim and is made publicly available in accordance with ADB’s Public Communications Policy (2011). It does not necessarily reflect the views of ADB. This social monitoring report is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area.

Widening and Strengthening of Melli – Namchi in South Sikkim. SKCW1 SK-01 Manpur Junction to Nayabazaar SK-02 Nayabazaar to Namchi by the R&B Department, Sikkim under MDONER with assistance from ADB Loan No.2770-IND

ROADS & BRIDGES DEPARTMENT GOVERNMENT OF SIKKIM

North Eastern State Roads Investment Program (NESRIP) funded by MDONER With assistance from ADB vide Loan No.2770-IND

Third Social Monitoring Report for the period January, 2018 to June 2018 SOCIAL MONITORING REPORT

Prepared and Submitted by:

Roads & Bridges Department, Govt. of Sikkim. (PIU)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page No.

Introduction 4-4 1 Background of the Project Road and Scope 4-4 2 Brief Description of Sub-Projects 3 Sub-Project Road- Melli to Nayabazar (SK01) 4-4 3.1 Sub-Project Road- Nayabazar to Namchi (SK02) 4-5 3.2 Resettlement Impacts 7-7 4 Land Acquisition impacts 7-8 4.1 Verification of Community Structures 8-8 4.2 Payment of Compensation 9-9 4.3 Institutional setup 9-10 5 Consultation & Disclosure 10-11 6 Grievance Redress Mechanism 11-11 7 Conclusions & Recommendation 11-11 8

ANNEXURES Annexure -1 Photographs 12-17 Annexure -2 Public Consultation Detail 18-20 Annexure -3 Estimation of damage compensation and fund transfer details 21-26 Annexure -4 Formation of Grievance Redressal Committee 26-29

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List of Abbreviations

ADB Asian Development Bank

BPL Below Poverty Line

DC District Collector

DH Displaced Household

DP Displaced Person

DPR Detailed Project Report

EA Executing Agency

GOI Government of India

GRC Grievance Redressal Committee

LA Land Acquisition

MDONER Ministry of Development of North East Region

NESRIP North Eastern State Roads Investment Program

NGO Non-Government Organization

NH National Highway

PIU Project Implementation Unit

PWD Public Works Department

R&R Resettlement and Rehabilitation

RP Resettlement Plan

RO Resettlement Officer

ROW Right Of Way

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SOCIAL MONITORING REPORT

1. Introduction

1. The Government of India with the financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank has undertaken the project “Widening, Improvement and upgrading of road section from Melli(km 17.1) to Nayabazar (SK-01) & Nayabazar to Namchi (SK02) in South Sikkim under North Eastern States Roads Investment Program,Tranche-1 vide Loan No.2770-IND.

2. This will lead to easy accessibility of the local people to essential socio-economic and health care services such as education, administrative services and trade centres enhancing quality of life of local people. The project is also to address the institutional capacity building of road sector at the state level to ensure effective and efficient management of the road assets.

3. This report covers a period from January, 2018 to June, 2018.

2. Background of the Project Road

4. The State roads in Sikkim have deteriorated over the years due to heavy rains and floods in some areas, failure of sub-grade and sub-base courses under increasing Traffic load and paucity of maintenance funds and resources for the timely and adequate maintenance of such roads. Development in the State is, therefore, hindered by the low quality of existing transport infrastructure, unreliable services, and largely hilly and rolling terrain besides excessive rainfall and floods in the area resulting in damages to the existing roads.

3. Brief description of Sub-Project Roads

3.1 Sub-Project Road -Melli to Nayabazaar (SK-01)

5. The project road starts from Manpur (Km 17.1) and traverses through hilly terrain throughout and passes through Majitar, Bhari Khola, Chirbiray ,16th Mile and Jorethang villages. This section is an existing state highway measuring 9.500 km in length located at Sikkim, South District. The topography of the project area is hilly. It passes entirely through hillock on one side and river valley (perennial river Rangit) on other side. The land use is completely forest type. It is situated within the Reserved Forest area of Sikkim South Forest Division. The existing condition of the road is motorable with average carriageway width of 4.000 m to 5.000 m. The project area is a high rainfall zone. The soil is poor and unstable which leads to frequent landslides and soil erosion mainly in rainy season. There are no historical places in the project area; however, one temple exists near to existing carriageway. There is no major settlement in between the project road. (Melli is the only town at the start of the project road. There is no encroachment on the road and available ROW is 27 ft either side of the centre of the road and the works shall be carried out only within the available ROW. There has been a change in alignment due to the shifting of bridge located at Bhandi Khola ( Km 21+ 680). The bridge is being shifted to Km 21+369 for improving the geometrics of the stretch. There will no resettlement impact since the stretch falls under the Forest area.

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3.2 Sub-Project Road -Nayabazar to Namchi (SK02)

6. The project road starts from Akkar bridge junction at Nayabazar and traverses through hilly terrain throughout and passes through Karfectar, Chisopani, Nandugaon, 9th Mile, 12th mile villages. This section is also an existing state highway measuring 19.700 km in length located at Sikkim, South District. The topography of the project area is hilly and passes though the mostly private lands as well as some reserve forest area of the South Sikkim Forest Division. The existing road has single lane carriageway with average carriageway width of 4.000 m to 5.000 m and formation width of 5.000 m to 6.000 m. The road passes mostly through hilly terrain (about 98 % road length) with moderate to sharp curves. The road has bituminous surface with good riding condition. The earthen shoulders are deteriorated and hill-side drains are damaged. The existing traffic is moderate and likely to go up in near future. There is no major settlement in between the project road. Jorethang (Nayabazar) is the only town at the start of the project road and Namchi at end of project road. There is no encroachment on the road and available ROW is 27 ft either side of the centre of the road and the works shall be carried out only within the available ROW. Therefore no households are affected by the project. Figure 1 show the location map of the subproject roads. Both road sections are proposed for improvement and up gradation to intermediate lane configuration (5.500 m carriageway) with side drains on hill side.

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Figure 1.

Namchi

SK-02 km 0.000 to km 19.700 Length 19.700 km Jorethang

(Nayabazaar) Revised Horizontal Alignment of SK-01 Sikkim Road Project km 17.100 to km 26.600 SKCW1 Length 9.500 km Total Length of Melli km Project: 29.200

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4. Resettlement Impacts

7. The project road was initially constructed during the era when Sikkim was a Kingdom. Later, ROW was demarcated as 27 feet on either side of the road from the centre of the road. The PIU decided to carry out the widening works within the available ROW. However, during the public hearing conducted at Nandu Gaon, the public stated that though the ROW area for the stretch Nayabazar to Namchi was under the ownership of the Government, they have not been compensated for the land on either side of the road till ROW boundary. They had demanded the compensation for that area of land or else they would not allow the construction activities to commence. The Public requested the District Collector, South District to look into the matter and demanded for the records of the payment regarding the compensation. The records could not be retrieved by the Office of the District Collector, South District. Hence, after various discussions and meetings with the Land Revenue Department; it was decided to carry out the estimation of the compensation for standing properties. However, the ROW already being legally under the ownership of the Government, it was not possible to prepare the compensation in favor of any land owner. Therefore, it was decided to prepare an estimate for trees and crops that are likely to be of damaged. Therefore, the Land Revenue Department prepared the compensation for standing properties and the same has already been disbursed.

4.1 Land Acquisition Impact

8. As per the data in the RP prepared for SK-CW1, Land Acquisition was proposed for 0.496 ha and transfer of government land (Forest) of 16.215 ha. Current data shows that there has not been any private land acquisition and the government land (Forest) transferred to the Roads & Bridges Department, Govt. of Sikkim is 3.909 ha.

Table-1:Summary of land impact in Hect. As per RP As per final verification Sub Projet Remarks Private Forest Private Forest Melli –Nayabazar 0.022 9.320 NIl 2.606 Nayabazar-Namchi 0.474 6.895 Nil 1.303 Total 0.496 16.215 Nil 3.909

9. As per the data in the RP, the 2 nos. of Government properties and 15 nos. of Private properties is being affected. As per the final verification, there has not been any private land acquisition therefore no structures would be affected.

Table-2:Summary of impact on structures Affected households As per RP As per final Remarks by type verification SK01 SK02 SK01 SK02 Government 2 0 0 0

Private 0 15 0 0 Total 2 15 0 0

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10. As per the RP a total number of 52 households are affected and as per the final verification 166 no of households would be affected.

Table -3:Number of Displaced Households by type of Impact Affected households by type As per RP As per final Remarks verification SK01 SK02 SK01 SK02 Agricultural land 0 5 0 0 Orchard 0 1 0 0 Residential 4 5 0 0 Commercial 1 0 0 0 Residential+Commercial 0 1 0 0 Temporary impact due to falling 20 15 0 0 of stones during construction Impact on crops and trees 0 0 0 166 Total 52 166

11.As per the final verification there are no displaced households. Therefore there are no vulnerable displaced household. Table -4:Summary of Vulnerable Displaced Households Vulnerability As per RP As per final verification Remarks category SK01 SK02 SK01 SK02 Without legal title 0 0 0 0 Scheduled Tribe 0 3 0 0 Scheduled Caste 0 1 0 0 Below Poverty 2 4 0 0 Line Woman headed 0 0 0 0 house Total 10 0

4.2 Verification of Community Structures (CPRs)

12. The impacted community property has also been decreased. The Kali temple located at the stretch Melli-Nayabazar ( Km 25+250) is the only affected community structure. The temple shall be temporarily shifted to Jorethang town and later shall be relocated at the adjoining forest land after the completion of the hill cutting works at that location. Table-5:Impacted community property Community As per RP As per final verification Remarks property SK01 SK02 SK01 SK02 Temple 3 0 1 0 Graveyard 0 0 0 0 Land 0 0 0 0 Structure 0 0 0 0 Others 0 0 0 0 Total 3 1 Page 8 of 29

4.3 Payment of Compensation

13. As mentioned above the project road does not require any land acquisition; the works is being carried out within the ROW. However, owing to the above fact (Resettlement Impacts, 7th Para), the estimation of standing properties in the stretch SK-02 in favor of 166 nos of persons amounting to Rs.36,19,926.00 has been approved. The same has already been disbursed.

Table-6:Compensation Payment Sub project TotalTarget Reporting Period Progress to date Balance No.of Amount No.of Amount No. of Amount No. of Amount persons (Rs.) persons (Rs.) persons (Rs.) persons (Rs.) Nayabazar – 166 3619926 166 3619926 166 3619926 0 0 Namchi (SK-02) Melli – 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nayabazar (SK-01)

Payment of compensation to households 14. As mentioned above the project road does not require any land acquisition; the works is being carried out within the ROW. Therefore, no households are being affected by the project.

Payment of assistance to households 15. The works is being carried out within the ROW. Therefore, no households are being affected by the project and no relocation of APs.

16. As per the RP the cost of relocation of the Kali Mandir located at Melli-Nayabazar stretch is Rs.2, 00,000.00.The Kali Mandir is yet to be relocated.

Table-7:Status of compensation payment and relocation of CPRs Type of Number CPRs TotalTarget Reporting % Progress to % Balance % Period date Kali Mandir 200000 0 0 0 0 200000 100

5. Institutional Setup

17. The Roads & Bridges Department, Govt. of Sikkim is the implementing agency, whereas the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER) is the executing agency of the Project. The PWD-PIU established has own the responsibility for proper implementation of Resettlement Plan. Implementation of Resettlement Plan of the project is being carried out by the Project Implementation Units (PIU), Roads & Bridges Department, Govt. of Sikkim. The PIU headed by Project Director (PD), has overall responsibility for policy guidance, coordination and planning, monitoring and overall reporting of the Project.

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18. A Resettlement Officer (RO) of the rank of Assistant Engineer has been placed at to coordinate the process of RP implementation and to address the adverse impacts on the people along the project roads, if any, for the duration of resettlement activities. The CSC has a Land Acquisition and Resettlement specialist and a Socio Economic Monitoring Specialist have been mobilized and supporting the EA. However, the consultants have demobilized their men power w.e.f July 2016.

19. The Organization structure for RP implementation is depicted below in Figure 2.

Figure 2.

Superintending Engineer -cum -Project

Director R & B Deptt. Govt. of Sikkim

Addl.Chief Engineer -cum -Nodal Officer

R & B Deptt. Govt. of Sikkim

Revenue Officer Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department,Govt. of Sikkim ( Resettlement Officer)

6. Consultation and Disclosure. 20. Consultations are being held frequently with the local people, village chiefs, affected peoples in the subproject areas including relevant government agencies. Two formal public consultations have also been organized during the reporting period.

21. Public Hearing on 15 March 2013: In compliance with the EIA Notification No. S.O. 1533(E) dated 14 September 2006 of GOI, a Public Hearing (a mandatory requirement of GOI for getting environmental clearance), has been conducted by Sikkim Pollution Control Board at Nandugaon Government Secondary School playground on 15 March 2015. The public hearing was chaired by Hon’ble Chairman of Sikkim Pollution Control Board and also attended by District Collector (Sikkim South), Member Secretary (SPCB), Addl. Chief Engineer (R&B Department, Sikkim), Division Forest Officer, Panchayat representatives, officials from SPCB, PIU Staff, CSC Staff, and public from Tinik, Chisopani, Nandugaon, Assangthang, Dong, Denchong, and Samardong villages. Issues raised by the public have been discussed during the meeting. The Chairman after having listened to views, suggestions, opinions, comments and observations from participants was found that Page 10 of 29

participants have supported and welcomed the project, and they were in opinion that the road project should come up.

22. Public Consultation at Nandugaon (SK-01) on 23 May 2013: PIU has organized a formal public consultation at Gram Panchayat Office in Nandugaon (Chainage km: (9+100). All together 48 affected people from villages along the subproject road and 13 officials (village heads, supervision consultant and PIU staff) participated in the consultation. Main issues discussed during the consultation are compensations for the land, protection of old sacred trees, and protection of public utilities (water sources). The PIU responded to the issues raised by public and assured them that all possible measures would be taken during the implementation of the project to safeguard the public interest. Details of public consultation including the attendance sheet are provided in Annex2.

7. Grievance Redressal Mechanism 23. The Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) has been constituted on 24th May 2018, in order to assist the APs in resolving queries and complaints. Table-8.Grievances received No. pending or Grievance type No. No.resolved referred to higher Remarks on received level Measurement of N/A N/A N/A asset Compensation of 0 0 NIL land Compensation of N/A N/A N/A structure Tree/crop 0 0 NIL compensation Assistance N/A N/A N/A Others 7 7 0 Grievances related to protective works.

The provision of Gabion walls has been given in the DPR but the public wanted the protective walls in the form of R.R.M or Plum Concrete for the protection of their land. The construction of R.R.M walls have been started at those locations. The total grievances received till date are 25.

8. Conclusion and Recommendation. 24. The report confirms that the project may experience some minor adverse social impacts. but all efforts will be undertaken to minimize these adverse impacts through slight modifications, reducing the requirement of land at places of potential impact as far as possible. Also through effective consultation the participation of the affected community in the process will be ensured. This in turn will certify that a sustainable growth model is put into action, benefiting the local residents and the users of the highway, after the completion of the Project.

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Annex-2 :Photographs

RRM wall work in Progress at Km 18+100 in SK-02

Site inspection along with contractors to solve local issues in SK-02 Page 12 of 29

RRM wall work in Progress at Km 04+560 in SK-02

Hill cutting under progress at Km 21+00 in SK-0

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HIV-AIDS Awareness Programme held at contractor’s base camp on dated 30.04.2014

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HIV-AIDS Awareness Programme held at contractor’s base camp on dated 30.04.2014

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HIV-AIDS Awareness Programme held at contractor’s base camp on dated 30.04.2014

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Public Consultations sessions along the project road.

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Annex 2:Public Consultation Details

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Annexure3. Damage compensation Details

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Annexure4. Formation of Grievance Redressal Committee.

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